A 51-year-old East Palo Alto man pleaded no contest to carjacking and received a 16-year prison sentence in San Mateo County Superior Court Thursday, Jan. 17.

Ronald Ray Davis was driving a stolen Nissan Pathfinder on June 7, 2008, and abandoned the car on U.S. Highway 101 in San Carlos, leaving fingerprints all over the car, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's office.

Police said he walked a short distance and carjacked a white Mercedes from the Eurotech Complete Body Works auto repair parking lot on Industrial Road. He drove the car at high speed through the parking lot and struck a black Mercedes, then he drove to Woodside Road and Highway 101, where he abandoned the Mercedes and tried to carjack a car waiting at the red light.

The driver resisted, and Davis punched the victim several times in the face, but he was unable to get the man out of the car. Davis then fled the area, the DA's office said. He was convicted of an unrelated felony assault in May 2009, and was in prison when he was located and charged with the carjacking.

Davis previously served 13 years in state prison for a 1992 voluntary manslaughter conviction that was reduced from murder after an 11-to-1 hung jury could not convict him on the murder charge.

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